The Planted Tank Forum banner

my aquarium exploded

14K views 42 replies 36 participants last post by  macclellan 
#1 ·
so today i spent 2 hours trimming and cleaning my aquarium and it looked beautiful! then I went off to work and came back to some weird grinding. It turns out my heater exploded and shattered the back glass of the aquarium. sending 40 gallons of water all over my room, killing all my fish and drying up my plants.

so i have a couple of questions.
i've read about a couple of aquarium explosions happening to a couple of the members but this time is different. the aquarium was well balanced nothing in the bottom was causing stress, and the way the glass is cracked appears to be around the heater. At first I thought the heater cracked after the glass shattered but now i'm thinking that the heater exploded first and cracked the glass with it.

it was a 40 gallon rimless tank, with a hydor theo 400w heater being used horizontally at a 20 degree angle.
After cleaning up the mess I noticed the heater's electronics were really burnt out, it had to be the cause of the explosion.

i'm contacting hydor to see what they can do and to see if there's a warranty or some form of customer assistance. After reading their website it makes me more upset.
the theo is supposed to be SHATTER PROOF.
its supposed to be safe, even during dry runs.
and its safe for horizontal mounting.

does anybody have any advice on what to do? i'm distraught :icon_frow





 
See less See more
5
#2 ·
does anybody have any advice on what to do? i'm distraught :icon_frow
Really bad :icon_frow

I would clean mess , document everything and send heater to analysis (not to manufacturer). If analysis says its heaters fault, ask Hydor for damage compensation. If they say no, you say that youll post story on every forum on internet. That will do.

PS. can aquarium be salvaged? Except from back side i suppose
 
#4 ·
Lucky your house didnt catch on fire with this happening while you were away and the heater still being plugged in.

Also lucky the wall outlet didnt catch fire, looks like it came in direct contact
with the big spill.
 
#5 ·
There is an infamous post on here about the Marineland Stealth Pro's exploding and shattering tanks. The OP of that thread contacted Marineland and they compensated him somehow, IIRC. Hopefully Hydor will respond in a similar fashion. As previously mentioned, make sure you document everything. Keep receipts/invoices for any supplies and repairs needed due to water damage. It will probably take a while but hopefully you get something. Sorry for your loss!
 
#6 ·
I am really sorry for you! Its what us aquariust fear most!!! What make of tank make was it?
If you can prove it was the heater they should compensate.
I never heard of heaters exploding and busting tanks but you never know until something like this happens.
Good luck with everything and keep us posted on your findings.
 
#31 ·
Did you remove the trim from the tank, or was it designed to be rimless?


It looks like the room is carpeted, which means the carpet pad is soaked and is going to start to smell bad soon.
+1
I guess the tank is DIY rimless, because the glass is too thin to be a rimless, am I right?
also, heater cracks if there is no water, and the material inside of the heater don't explode, there is no dynamite inside..

I feel sorry for your big lost, weeks, months, of efforts setting up a nice looking planted tank ruin in just less than ten minutes and mess up the room, the furniture. I don't want to see this happen to my tank or any others' , but anyway, sh*t happen..

To find out how this happen, use common sense first, until you can prove the absurdity is actually a fact.

Edit: Don't use hydro heater, I had one, placed vertically in my 9G, 5 hours without filter to stir the water, warm and cold water seperated in the small tank and only 10 degree difference, that piece of [sh*t] cracked. I noticed the weird swimming pattern of the feeder goldfish before I put my hand in the water, and saw the cracked heater..
 
#14 ·
Oh man, i'm so so so sorry... that's really gotta be a bummer. Just stay positive; any sensible company would compensate you for the damages if you can prove that their product was the cause.

And i agree with boringname. I'm sure having all that water soaked into your carpet and under your furniture isn't good... that's going to be a pain to clean up. Keep us updated.
 
#18 ·
The unplugging comment I made was in regards to shorting something out, or electrocuting somebody. Water + Electricity = Bad. Your pic of the damage had something plugged in, and I was wondering if it had been plugged in since the tank blew. And +1, it's always a good idea to have tank gear plugged into a GCFI outlet (which can be installed even if the outlet isn't grounded). And always make sure anything plugged into the outlet has a low point before it gets there (so water running down a cord will drip to the ground rather than follow the cord directly to the outlet).
 
#19 ·
I am for what happened.
Don't get your hopes on Hydor helping you I have two heaters from them that cooked my fish when I called them all they told me was to send the heater and if the heater is broken they would replace the heater but nothing for my loss of fish. I will never buy any of there product.
 
#22 ·
As everyone has said, document every step of the process. Digital film is cheap.

Check to see if water damage, or specifically aquarium water damage is covered in your home owners or renters insurance. Don't call them until you check your deductible though. It very well might not be worth a claim, particularly in Florida. For some reason parts of Florida get wet. ;-)

40 gallons shouldn't be enough to cause structural damage. Since you're in Florida, if there is a crawl space, do what ever you need to do to make sure termites aren't attracted. Get a fan blowing on the wall.

As to the water, a carpet shampooer from the grocery store will help in the immediate time frame. If the carpet smells, a decent pet store should have an enzyme product for urine that eats proteins. Marvelous products.
 
#24 ·
My heart just sank. I really REALLY feel sorry for you. Like this makes me sad, like I am crying right now. I have never seen this before :icon_cry:

I hope you get your money back at least. And get a REALLY HIGH QUOTE if you do.
 
#26 ·
sorry about your tank friend, i hope you get everything you deserve. i never used any glass heater and always used rena smart heater, been using it for over 2 years, it looks ugly but i think i will rather take that than shattering heater. hope you get your money from them for all of your loss.
 
#27 ·
If I came home to 40g, or in my case 75g of water no longer in the tank, and no signs of life... I'd probably shed a tear or two or many LOL :( . We put our souls into these tanks and our little buddies.


cleaning that much water up... I would have no idea where to start.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top